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Go beryllium argon sulfur: How to celebrate National Periodic Table Day

If you ever feel like you’re in a celebratory mood but have nothing to celebrate, a quick Google search can give you a justification for any random party you wish to throw. Today is National Periodic Table Day, and there are many ways you can celebrate (roughly 118 ways).

Dress up like berkelium

Honestly, we aren’t sure what berkelium looks like, but the important thing is that element 97 was first discovered here at UC Berkeley. If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to cosplay as an element to class, here it is. Alternatively, you could opt to dress up like californium, which was also discovered at UC Berkeley.

Sing the periodic table song

Perhaps you had the misfortune of learning this song when you were younger. It’s an undoubtedly annoying tune, but you can’t say it isn’t catchy. If the periodic table is one of the greatest achievements of science, the periodic table song represents the height of music. It’s a simple yet effective way to memorize the elements, though you should probably still study for that chem midterm.

Remind everyone that Stanford has yet to discover any elements

If there is any tried-and-true way of evaluating a university’s merits, it’s by looking at whether or not they’ve discovered any elements. Berkeley has had a hand in discovering a whopping 16 elements. And Stanford? Zero.

Start a protest to name a new element in honor of Oski

Despite the fact that Berkeley has discovered 16 elements, none have been named “oskium.” And yes, there are specific rules about what you can and cannot name an element, but “oskium” just rolls right off the tongue. We even have the perfect chemical symbol: “Ok.” If the next element that UC Berkeley discovers has the honor of being named after the greatest college mascot, you can thank the Clog.

We hope you have a happy National Periodic Table Day, everyone. Go beryllium argon sulfur!

About this blog

The Daily Clog (Cal+Blog) accumulates various tidbits about Berkeley and college life. We focus on the UC campus, the city of Berkeley and Berkeley’s online community. We give our two cents on all the goings-on.